Prince Charles's household 'elitist'

A former royal secretary told an employment tribunal today that Prince Charles is the head of a "hierarchical and elitist" workplace where staff are expected not to "rock the boat."

Elaine Day, who is claiming sex discrimination and unfair dismissal against the prince's household, was described by him in a memo as "so PC it frightens me rigid".

In the memo, made public at the tribunal, the prince also blames the education system for making people "think they can all be pop stars". It was written by the prince in response to a suggestion by Ms Day that personal assistants with university degrees should be given the opportunity to train to become private secretaries, the hearing was told.

The prince wrote: "What is wrong with everyone nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities?

"This is to do with the learning culture in schools as a consequence of a child-centred system which admits no failure. People think they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant TV personalities or infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting in the necessary work or having natural ability.

"This is the result of social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically and socially engineered to contradict the lessons of history." The memo concludes: "What on earth am I to tell Elaine? She is so PC it frightens me rigid."

Ms Day, of Belvedere, Kent, worked as a personal assistant for five years at Clarence House before she left earlier this year. Clarence House has said it will "vigorously" contest the case, which is being heard in Croydon, south London, and is expected to last three days.

The note, dated March 2003, was a response to a suggestion made by Ms Day to the prince's assistant private secretary Paul Kefford.

Ruth Downing, counsel for Ms Day, asked her what she understood the memo to mean. "I completely felt that people could not rise above their station," she said.

Ms Day told the tribunal the royal household was run in an "Edwardian" fashion. She said: "It's hierarchical, elitist, everyone knows their place and if we forget our place the system will punish us."

Ms Day claims she was one of three female members of staff who had been sexually harassed by Mr Kefford.

She told the tribunal: "He frequently approached me from behind when I was photocopying or in the kitchen. He would put his hand on my back and rub it, and would also touch my shoulder. This made me feel very uncomfortable."

After an event in August 2002, she said: "I didn't ever want to be put in a position where I was alone with him, ie working late at night, going into his office and shutting the door."

Ms Day told the tribunal a colleague had informed her that Mr Kefford "had a history of inappropriate touching when he worked for the civil service". She claimed that after she made a complaint about his behaviour in October 2002 she received "unjustified criticism".

She said: "I believe I was victimised as a result of minor mistakes I made. I was also being set up to fail. When I made a minor mistake it was seized upon."

She added: "I was aware of a culture in the household, which stemmed from His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, that the respondent (the prince's household) would not welcome employees which it perceived rocked the boat. This was made abundantly clear to me."

Ms Day told the tribunal a previous secretary who had made a complaint of sexual harassment against the then assistant private secretary, Nick Archer, had "left suddenly".